This tiny little jumping spider I noticed on my deck. It has caught something, but I could not make out exactly what. The size of this spider was so small that I could only really notice details at magnification but it appeared to be perhaps another spider that had fallen prey to this little powerhouse arachnid. In any case whatever it had caught I am pretty sure to him it was just called lunch.

*update

Thanks to TurnFear2Fascination on twitter for the ID on this spider as a Salticus species! According to others who have viewed the photo it does appear to be another spider that has ended up as meal for this little guy. I often witness jumping spiders making prey of other spider species. Sometimes I will even witness some jumping spiders plucking at other spiders webs seemingly trying to entice its potential meal out. Of course interactions with these spiders happens so fast it is often hard to have a camera at the ready. These jumping spiders in particular are hard to capture as they are so extremely small. To give context to size this one that is photographed is on the arm of a deck chair.

My What Big Eyes You Have

One feature all jumping spiders is that two of their eyes (Spiders have more than two) are very oversized. This gives jumping spiders a cuteness quality that is not always observed in others spider species. Of course these eyes serve a purpose helping the spider track and ambush its prey. Some Jumping spiders such as the Portia jumping spider (who feeds on other spiders) are observed carefully examining their environment to plan their attacks.

Jumping spider are truly fascinating predators of the garden and there are no shortages of shapes and sizes of them to observe.